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Autophagy is a conserved lysosomal degradation pathway where cellular components are dynamically degraded and re-processed to maintain physical homeostasis. However, the physiological effect of autophagy appears to be multifaced. On the one hand, autophagy functions as a cytoprotective mechanism, protecting against multiple diseases, especially tumor, cardiovascular disorders, and neurodegenerative and infectious disease. Conversely, autophagy may also play a detrimental role via pro-survival effects on cancer cells or cell-killing effects on normal body cells. During disorder onset and progression, the expression levels of autophagy-related regulators and proteins encoded by autophagy-related genes (ATGs) are abnormally regulated, giving rise to imbalanced autophagy flux. However, the detailed mechanisms and molecular events of this process are quite complex. Epigenetic, including DNA methylation, histone modifications and miRNAs, and post-translational modifications, including ubiquitination, phosphorylation and acetylation, precisely manipulate gene expression and protein function, and are strongly correlated with the occurrence and development of multiple diseases. There is substantial evidence that autophagy-relevant regulators and machineries are subjected to epigenetic and post-translational modulation, resulting in alterations in autophagy levels, which subsequently induces disease or affects the therapeutic effectiveness to agents. In this review, we focus on the regulatory mechanisms mediated by epigenetic and post-translational modifications in disease-related autophagy to unveil potential therapeutic targets. In addition, the effect of autophagy on the therapeutic effectiveness of epigenetic drugs or drugs targeting post-translational modification have also been discussed, providing insights into the combination with autophagy activators or inhibitors in the treatment of clinical diseases.

This paper reports a highly effective method for replicating large-area micropattern devices through hybrid extrusion rolling embossing using a roller mold, wherein a thin stainless steel mold with a large-area micropattern is wrapped onto a metallic roll to form a roller mold. During the hybrid extrusion rolling embossing period, the molten polymer film is extruded and immediately pressed against the embossing roller and roller mold, which results in the molten polymer completely filling the micropattern on the surface of the roller mold. Next, the molten polymer film is cooled and wound using a conveying system equipped with highly polished rollers. Thus, a continuous polymer film with many large-area micropattern devices can be fabricated. In this study, a new hybrid extrusion rolling embossing system was designed, constructed, and tested; the basic film extrusion and rolling embossing conditions were investigated; and the thickness uniformity of the polymer films and the replication quality of the micropattern devices were measured and analyzed. The results indicate that the hybrid extrusion rolling embossing can potentially be used for continuous mass production of large-area micropattern devices.

The objective of this study is to investigate the efficacy of silodosin in medical expulsive therapy (MET) for ureteral stones. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the efficacy and safety of silodosin in MET for ureteral calculi. We searched PubMed, Embase, Medline, Central (the Cochrane Library, Issue 1,2013), Google Scholar from the inception to March 2015 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), comparing silodosin with tamsulosin or control on ureteral stone passage. Eight RCTs with a total of 1145 ureteral stone patients (300 patients in the control group, 287 patients in the tamsulosin group, 558 patients in the silodosin group) were included in this meta-analysis. When compared with control, silodosin significantly improved expulsion rate of distal ureteral stones (RR: 1.42; 95% CI, 1.21–1.67; P

We investigated the effect of red light and plant growth regulators on somatic embryogenesis in China Rose (Rosa chinensis Jacq.). Embryogenic calli that had been induced by combinations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and thidiazuron in darkness were exposed to dark, red, and white light treatments. Cultures subjected to red light treatment generated the greatest number of embryos, with one (SE1 embryos) or two (SE2 embryos) expanded cotyledons. The largest numbers of shoot-like embryos without cotyledons (SE0 embryos) were produced in cultures subjected to dark treatment. The effects of different concentrations of abscisic acid (ABA) on the proliferation and germination of different types of somatic embryos were also evaluated. A concentration of 9.45 μM was found to be the most effective in promoting the proliferation and germination of SE2 embryos. The higher the concentration of ABA (from 0 to 18.90 μM), the higher the percentage of abnormal polycotyledonary embryos produced. The highest percentage of regenerated plants was obtained from SE2 embryos.

We study microscopic spacetime convexity properties of fully nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations. Under certain general structure condition, we establish a constant rank theorem for the spacetime convex solutions of fully nonlinear parabolic equations. At last, we consider the parabolic convexity of solutions to parabolic equations and the convexity of the spacetime second fundamental form of geometric flows.

This paper reports two new coordination polymers formed by carboxylate-substituted benzoimidazole and formate ligands: [Mn(L)·(HCO2)] n (1) and [Co(L)·(HCO2)] n (2) (L = benzoimidazol-1-yl-acetate). Complexes 1 and 2 are isomorphous and adopt a new 3,6-connected three-nodal topology showing interesting magnetic properties: spin canted antiferromagnetism for MnII complex 1, but simple antiferromagnetic coupling for CoII complex 2.